Too Much TV Linked to Premature Death

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Adults who watch a lot of TV may be at an increased risk of dying
at a relatively young age, a new study suggests.

The study involved more than 13,200 adults in Spain who were all
college graduates, and were around 37 years old at the study's
start. Participants were followed for about eight years, over
which there were 97 deaths.

Those who watched three or more hours of TV a day were twice as
likely to die over the study period, compared with those whose
watched TV for one hour or less daily, the study found.

The findings held even after the researchers took into account
factors that could affect a person's risk of death, including
age, sex, smoking habits, total daily calorie intake, snacking
habits, body mass index, physical activity level and whether
participants adhered to a
Mediterranean diet, which has been linked to a longer life
span.

The results agree with several previous studies that have linked
watching TV with an increased risk of death. A 2010 study of
Australian adults found that each additional hour of watching TV
was linked with an 11 percent increased risk of death over a
6-year period. But the new study is one of the first to examine
the link in younger adults.

"Our findings suggest that not only the promotion of physical
activity but also the reduction in sedentary activities
(especially television viewing) is a priority for the prevention
of premature mortality," the researchers, from the University of
Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, wrote in a paper published today
(June 25) in the Journal of the American Heart
Association.

Interestingly, when the researchers considered computer use and
driving separately, neither of these activities were linked with
an increased risk of death, but future studies are needed to
confirm these findings. The researchers noted that they assessed
people's
computer use at the study's start in 1999, before prolonged
use was common. Driving and computer use may also require
slightly more energy expenditure and muscle activity than
watching TV, the researchers said.

The study found an association, and cannot prove that watching TV
causes people to die at an early age — it's possible that other
factors not accounted for in the study may explain the link. More
research is also needed to examine whether decreasing time spent
watching TV might reduce a person's risk of death, the
researchers said.